Discussion questions – Moby-Dick: What are the traces in Moby-Dick of Melville’s apparent
What are the traces in Moby-Dick of Melville’s apparent reading of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Coleridge, Irving, Cooper, Carlyle, Poe, or Hawthorne? What about contemporary topical sources?
Is there a conspicuous or dominant literary form in Moby-Dick? To what extent is it an epic of whaling, the tragedy of Ahab, or a cautionary allegory of contemporary trends such as rampant capitalism, uncontrolled geographical expansion (“manifest destiny”), or the excesses of transcendentalist philosophy?
As we read Moby-Dick do we focus on or identify with Ishmael as character, Ishmael as designated narrator, Melville as general narrator, Ahab as protagonist, or other characters such as Starbuck?
